May 8 in History

Historical Events on May 8

1429 Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

1846 Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto: Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.

1861 American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.

1933 Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.

1942 World War II: The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet Armies (44th, 47th, and 51st) defending the Kerch Peninsula, in the eastern part of the Crimea.

1946 Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.

1967 The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.

1972 Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.

1978 The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.

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Famous Birthdays on May 8

1884 Harry S. Truman

1898 Aloysius Stepinac

1926 David Attenborough

1938 Jean Giraud

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Famous Deaths on May 8

1891 Helena Blavatsky

1903 Paul Gauguin

1975 Avery Brundage

1988 Robert A. Heinlein

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